‘Oil worth £300bn’ discovered under London’s Gatwick Airport

UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) claims up to 100 billion barrels of oil have been found beneath Gatwick Airport, believed to be worth more than £300 billion. However, the discovery and its scale are yet to be independently verified.

UKOG said drilling in
the 55-square mile site had uncovered 158 million barrels per
square mile across the South of England.

“We think we’ve found a very significant discovery here,
probably the largest in the last 30 years,” said UKOG’s
chief executive, Stephen Sanderson, of the Horse Hill-1 well in
the Weald Basin.

“We think it has national significance. It is a world-class
potential resource and has the potential for significant daily
oil production.

“Based on what we’ve found here, we’re looking at between 50
and 100 billion barrels of oil in place in the ground.”

The US-based firm, which studied the reservoir, estimates
recovery of the oil would be limited to between 5 percent and 15
percent of the total.

“We believe we can recover between 5 percent and 15 percent
of the oil in the ground, which by 2030 could mean that we
produce 10 percent to 30 percent of the UK’s oil demand within
the Weald area,” Sanderson said.

For comparison, the North Sea has produced around 45 billion
barrels in 40 years.

In May 2014, the British Geological Survey estimated that the
Weald Basin, where the oil was found, holds around 4.4 billion
barrels of shale oil.

The company's chairman David Lenigas, said it would create
“many thousands of jobs” but said it would take a long
time to begin production, while Sanderson said only a relatively
small part of the oil will be recovered.

Lenigas told Sky News: “You've got to work through government
process and to work with the local community. Everybody expects
you to snap your fingers and all of a sudden the magic panacea is
there. The key thing is there is a potential resource of
significance here – but the fast track or slow track nature is
really going to be determined by Westminster.”